Institutional Rights Retention Policy

In order to meet funder open access requirements and to give researchers greater autonomy around the publication of their research outputs, Loughborough University has introduced a Rights Retention Policy (to cover “short form” outputs).  

  • This policy confirms that the University makes no claim (as outlined in the academic conditions of service and Copyright Policy) on the copyright and/or database right in Academic Communications related to research. 
  • Upon acceptance for publication each staff member and doctoral researcher agrees to grant the University an irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide licence to copy such Academic Communications onto the University Repository under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Licence, or a more permissive licence. 
  • Authors should include the following statement in the funder and/or acknowledgements section of their submitted article as well as in any cover letter: 
  • “For the purpose of open access, the author(s) has(ve) applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission”. 
  • This policy applies to all journal articles and conference proceedings published with an ISSN, regardless of funding, and where an author acknowledges a Loughborough affiliation, whether corresponding author or not. 
  • Loughborough University will, upon publication of the article or conference proceeding, make the output immediately available in our electronic repository with no embargo, under the terms of the CC BY licence. 
  • Authors must comply with their funder policies on open access and research data management. This policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it doesn’t conflict with these. 
  • The University recognises that there may be occasions when a member of staff is unable to comply with this policy. In these circumstances a voluntary opt out of the requirements is allowed. However, this may leave the output non-compliant with funder open access policy. 
  • Any author wishing to opt-out must inform University Repository staff of their intention.  

What is the purpose of this policy? 

  • To help underpin the Open Research ambitions of Loughborough University. 
  • To increase the reach, visibility, and impact of Loughborough University’s research. 
  • To help ensure that research funder open access mandates and policies are met. 
  • To work towards a more equitable research and publishing environment where authors are not required to transfer ownership of work to publishers.  

What are the benefits of this policy? 

  • Authors retain more of the rights in their work granted them by copyright law, rather than transferring them to publishers. 
  • Research outputs will be more visible and more accessible, including for policy makers, researchers, businesses, and charities. 
  • Funder open access policies will be more readily met without additional administrative overheads for academic and professional services staff.  

What is the scope of this policy? 

  • Journal articles and conference proceedings published with an ISSN. 
  • Any Loughborough University member of staff and doctoral researchers. 
  • Longer form publications (such as monographs, book chapters, and edited collections) are out of scope but authors are strongly encouraged to retain their rights in these outputs. 
  • Any items submitted or accepted before the adoption of this policy are omitted.  

What are the author requirements? 

  • Authors should include the following statement in the funder and/or acknowledgements section of their submitted article as well as in any cover letter: 
  • “For the purpose of open access, the author(s) has(ve) applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission”. 
  • Authors must submit their Accepted Manuscripts to the University Repository upon acceptance. 
  • Authors must clearly identify that they are affiliated with Loughborough University by using “Loughborough University” as their affiliation. This could be as one of multiple affiliations e.g. departmental or school affiliation. 
  • Authors must include a data access statement even where there are no data associated with the output. 
  • Authors must acknowledge the source of any funding. 

Policy updated 1 January 2024. Contact the Library Open Research Team.